Time
by Pandor4
Summary: Two years after Loki's attempt to ravage the world and take it as his own, Tony and Steve are invited to Asgard to bear witness to his sentencing. Unwittingly Tony ends up in a situation that provides him with more years than he knows what to do with, and subsequently numerous chances to get better acquainted with the god of mischief. #FrostIron


Time

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**Summary**: Two years after Loki's attempt to ravage the world and take it as his own, Tony and Steve are invited to Asgard to bear witness to his sentencing. Unwittingly Tony ends up in a situation that provides him with more years than he knows what to do with, and subsequently numerous chances to get better acquainted with the god of mischief.

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Chapter 1: _2014-05-26_

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Tony heaved in a huge breath as he straightened beside Steve. His insides felt as though they had been tied in knots and his head pounded. Steve, also doubled over, was not looking much better.

"Do you require any assistance?" Thor asked as he looked down at them, apparently unfazed by their trip across the rainbow road.

"No," Tony gasped, "no, we will be fine. You could have warned us that it felt like being run over by a freaking steamroller though." With one hand still applying pressure to the cramps in his side, Tony shifted his sunglasses back to the top of his head as he looked up and squinted at the glowing city before them. Asgard, home of gods. When Thor had originally approached SHIELD about bringing some of the avengers to Asgard, Fury had immediately wanted to send Clint or Natasha as one of the representatives. Unfortunately for him, their unique skill set was called for elsewhere and given the circumstances were not easily extractable from their current missions.

With Banner traveling in the backwaters of the world again, with instructions to only call upon him if it were an emergency, Fury was left with only Tony and Steve to send with Thor. Not terribly pleased with having to send Tony, Fury unsurprisingly placed his trust in Steve to be the diplomat and peacekeeper.

Two years had passed since Loki's invasion of earth and Odin had invited them to bear witness to the end of Loki's trial and his final sentencing. When Fury had questioned Thor about what the sentence might be, Thor gave no answers as he was not entirely sure himself what his father intended to do. Left with few other options, Fury entrusted both Steve and Tony to report back to him in detail the results of the trail.

Given only a few hours to pack, Steve and Tony now found themselves in an entirely different realm.

"It certainly is a sight to behold, Thor," Steve wheezed out as he straightened, his brow bunched as he placed a hand to his side. "Could have warned us a bit better about the trip though."

"I apologize for that," Thor said, his head bowing. "I have never had a midgardian travel the rainbow road with me. Heimdall assured me that it would be quite safe and that you would not parish in the journey."

"Ha," Tony said dryly. "Felt like we might have been close at some points."

"Are you well enough to continue on? I would be most pleased to introduce you to my father and mother. They shall be waiting our arrival," Thor asked anxiously.

Tony straightened his back fully and shook out his arms and head, trying to his best to will the nausea and dizziness away. "Right, meeting the parents. My favorite part," he said wryly. Checking his cufflinks and straightening his suit jacket he nodded to Thor. "Ready as I will ever be."

"Very well, let us proceed," Thor nodded as he turned to lead the way, his crimson cloak swirling around him.

Tony and Steve fell into place behind Thor, both of their eyes taking in the breathtaking view of the city. "I could never have imagined a place like this," Steve said aloud, his head continually turning as they began to walk along well-worn paths through the beautiful gardens of Asgard.

Tony hummed in agreement. They passed by few other Æsir but all of them stepped aside as Thor approached and gave gentle nods as they passed. Tony felt as though he had walked into a fairytale book. There was no technology anywhere, just beautiful architecture, natural beauty and a hint of magic powering all of it. It made him feel distinctly out of place.

"Do you have many trails that take place?" Steve asked as they followed Thor towards what must have been the center of the great city.

"Some. But they are often far and few between. The last trial of this magnitude was over a century ago," Thor explained as they turned sharply to continue down a different path.

"Everyone is that well behaved?" Tony scoffed a bit.

"Not necessarily well behaved, it is that it is not often that we have crimes of this extreme nature to deal with," Thor said with a small shrug, a frown marring his face. "It is a disappointment that Loki should be one to go through this."

Steve, Tony noticed, nodded in silent agreement with Thor. He, however, could not help think to himself, 'You really didn't see this one coming?'

They walked along for another few minutes in silence, each of them pondering Loki's upcoming sentencing. Tony was glad that this was finally coming to an end. The media back on earth continually speculated what became of the Asgardian prince. Many demanded information from the government and from SHIELD as to what was to become of him. The loudest of these questioners were of course from the individuals that had lost someone in the fighting. It would be a relief to finally be able to silence their questions with answers and lay the issue to rest.

Pulling himself from his thoughts, Tony noted that slowly the gardens were becoming fewer, and the building grew in size and elegance.

"We are here," Thor said, and smile breaking across his face as he turned back to his friends. "This is the hall of my father, Odin! The seat of his strength and power. Come, I shall introduce you to him at once!"

"This is huge," Steve stated in awe as he craned his head upwards to glance towards the ceiling. "At least the size of a football stadium..." he trailed off, as they walked through the massive gilded doors that stood open for them.

Tony's eyes quickly took in the room. It was empty for all but two people standing on the dais at the far end of the hall. Everything inside seemed to radiate with power, elegance, and wealth. He quickly had to turn his eyes away from the architecture however, because in his joy to introduce them to his parents, Thor had lengthened and quickened his stride.

Hard pressed to keep pace with the god, Tony did his best to keep up without making a fool of himself. Glancing over at Steve, Tony noted that he seemed to be having no problems. Sighing to himself in frustration, Tony once again lamented his shorter stature.

"Father," Thor called out, his voice booming around the hall, "These are the warriors of Midgard that I have told you much of!"

"Welcome, friends of Asgard," a deep booming voice answered as Odin turned from his wife in order to give them his full attention.

Tony, Steve and Thor came to stand before the dais. Closer up, Tony could see that Odin's clothing was even more extravagantly detailed than Thor's was. Both of them oozed an air of majestic wisdom, which made Tony's skin crawl slightly.

"Father, Mother, this is Steve Rogers, Captain America, and this is Tony Stark, the Man of Iron," Thor announced as he gestured to each of them.

"It is a great honor to meet both of you, your majesties," Steve said as he bowed down before them. Tony had an urge to roll his eyes slightly. Trust the captain to suck up. He didn't go scrapping around on Thor's behalf.

Tony bit his tongue, gave a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes and bent his head in their general direction.

The All-Father walked to the edge of the dais and stared down at them, his gaze penetrating, despite the kind words that left his month. "Thank you for responding to my summons with such haste. It pleases us greatly to know that subjects of Midgard will be able to bear witness to Loki's sentencing."

"And when is that going to be taking place," Tony asked.

"This afternoon." It was Frigga that answered. Her voice was terse, and her face drawn with worry. "We have had chambers prepared for you, so that you may rest before the actual gathering."

"Thank you," Steve replied with a quick nod, "It would be most appreciated."

"You are quite welcome. Myrra will show you to your chambers."

From a small, alcove to the side of the room a young woman, or maybe not so young, considering she was most likely an Æsir appeared. She walked gracefully to the center of the room, her elegant dress flowing around her. "If you would please follow me," she said her voice smooth as silk.

Tony sent an inquisitive glance back towards Thor, who seemed to be making no move to follow them.

"Go and rest, Stark. We will speak more this evening during the feasting this evening. For now I must discuss matters here."

Nodding Tony lifted and hand towards Odin and Frigga, "Well, I guess we will be seeing you later then."

"It was a pleasure to finally meet you," Steve added with another small bow.

"And you as well. Rest well, warriors of Midgard," Odin proclaimed before turning away to beacon Thor and Frigga to follow him from the hall.

Myrra did not speak or move again until the trio of royalty had successfully exited the hall. "Your chambers are not far. Please follow me," she said, before turning on the spot and walking in the opposite direction.

Shrugging to Steve, they both made to follow her, a good six to seven paces behind her. "That wasn't so bad," Steve said quietly, trying to avoid having his voice echo throughout the expansive chamber.

"It wasn't good either," Tony muttered back quietly, "I felt like we were an exotic pet being shown off. You didn't notice how much Thor was beaming? He looked like a kid that had found a stray dog and was bringing it home to show his parents."

Tony ignored the way Steve was frowning at him, "But..."

Tony cut him off, "I like Thor. He is a good guy. I am just not really digging the whole royal immortal parents gig."

Steve nodded. "Well, we won't be here too long," he replied diplomatically.

"Probably not," Tony agreed. They were finally out of the expansive hall and back outside, walking down a different path then the one they came in. There seemed to be more Æsir walking around now as well. Maybe they were all finished getting their beauty sleep?

Regardless Myrra picked up her pace now that they were outside and was leading them through a tangle of crisscrossing paths. She had not been lying when she had told them there chambers were not far. They had not been walking more than five minutes before they came to stop before a small, but tall building.

She promptly opened the unlocked door and stepped inside. Huge windows let in the midday sun. On the first floor there were a number of lounges and a large fire pit in the middle of the room. Off to the side there was a smaller table that would comfortably sit a party of four. Tony imagined that he would find the beds upstairs.

"Will this suite your needs?" She asked.

Tony nodded as he walked over to one of the chaises and plopped down. It was soft and was tempting him towards napping. "It is not quite home, but it will do."

"Thank you for showing us here," Steve added as he moved past her into the room. "This is all very nice."

The woman nodded. "Very well. I shall leave you here and return in four hours' time to collect you. Rest until then." Just as suddenly as she had originally appeared, she was gone again, leaving Tony and Steve to their own devices.

As soon as she was out the door Tony stretched out along the chase. "What a day!" He said aloud. "If I had known I would end up in a different realm today I might have told Jarvis to block all incoming calls!"

"And miss this?" Steve asked as he plopped down on the seat across from Tony's. "Can you honestly say you would rather be sitting at home?"

"Probably not," Tony responded truthfully as he poked at the chaise. "It's not every day I get invited to some shin-dig in Asgard. Although, maybe I should tell Pepper to work it into the agenda more often. I think this is the most comfortable piece of furniture I have ever sat on."

Steve rolled his eyes, "Only you would care about something so material."

Tony waved his hand dismissively. "So where do you think they have been holding onto our precious Loki? I am thinking he probably got sent to his rooms like a naughty child."

"I don't think so," Steve replied shaking his head as he leaned back into the chair he occupied. "Not if it has taken them a full two years to reach a conclusion to his trial."

"Ah, so a dungeon then?" Tony asked, raising an eyebrow in a suggestive manner.

"_No_."

"Fine," Tony huffed, as he shifted a bit to make himself more comfortable.

"They probably have a prison of some sort. Even if it is like Thor said, that they only have a few trials of this magnitude on an infrequent basis."

"Probably," Tony agreed, before he paused. "You hungry"

"Didn't you eat before we left?" Steve asked, a frown working its way over his face. "I saw how many of those doughnuts you ate. How can you still possibly be hungry."

"All of this talk about the trial is burning through my reserves," Tony said as he pushed himself upright. "I think I saw a buffet on our way here."

"I don't think it is really a good idea to go wandering around," Steve replied uneasily.

"Nah, it will be fine," Tony said as he stood up with a purpose. "Besides, as you said, I did eat all those doughnuts and could probably use a walk."

"Really, Tony, I don't think this is a good idea. Plus, we just got here! You don't even know your way around."

"Relax Cap, I will be back before you know it! Besides, I can't sit still. You heard the girl, she is not going to be back for hours!"

"Fine, but I am not covering for you when she gets back and you are not here."

"Fine, no food for you then," Tony snapped back. He grabbed his suit jacket on his way out the door, and promptly turned in the direction that they had originally come from. It did not take him long to find the hall that they had passed earlier. Earlier when they had originally passed it the tables had been set up and he had seen some women laying out place settings and huge bowls of fruits. It looked like a banquet, and the building itself was more of a pavilion than an actual hall.

While he was sure that intruding on someone else's lunch was probably just as wrong on Asgard as it was on earth, he was _very_ hungry. Stealing a few looks around, it seemed as though everyone was out of the area for the moment. So, without any further contemplation, Tony quickly stole into the pavilion towards the banquet that was in the process of still being laid out.

There were a number of gilded trays that looked as though they still intended to be filled, but there was plenty of fruit lying about, as well as some rolls of bread. Starting at one end of the table, Tony began to quickly stuff little bits and pieces of food into the pockets of his suit jacket. A roll of bread over his heart, a few grapes in the left pocket, a peach in the right, and from the center of the table Tony grabbed himself an apple._ Delicious_, he thought to himself.

Not wishing to overstay his unsolicited stay, Tony did a quick glance around again and quickly stole back out of the pavilion and onto the pathway. He walked back towards their lodging, looking for one of those nice gardens to enjoy his plunder in. He ran across a few Æsir and gave them all polite nods, while trying his best to not flaunt the fruit he had pillaged from the banquet spread. Finding a smaller path, Tony stole down a narrower path off of what appeared to be the main thoroughfare.

It did not take him long to find a small secluded garden behind a rather tall and important looking building. Looking for a bench to sit on Tony brought the apple to his mouth and tore out a portion of the crunchy fruit. _God that's good, _he thought to himself as he quickly chewed and swallowed the bite. It was sweet and juicy, with just the right amount of crunch.

It was only after his fifth bite that he realized that something might be wrong. Never before had he been so captivated by a single fruit that he literally was eating it as fast as he could. He was over halfway done with the apple and he was not slowing down, even though his mind clearly recognized that he was about to lose some fingers if he wasn't more careful with where he bit.

Trying his best to avoid injuring himself, while his stomach did all of the thinking, Tony found himself gnawing down to the seeds, spitting them out, while eating all of the other flesh of the fruit. A minute later, it was nothing more than a pile of seeds laying in a pile in front of him.

"Crap," he muttered to himself as he looked down at the seeds. His stomach felt bloated from eating so quickly and he warily looked into his pockets at the grapes, peach and bread he had also pilfered. "Maybe there was some sort of spell on it to prevent theft…" he said to himself as he quickly threw the rest of the food into a nearby bush.

Licking the juices from his fingers, Tony glanced around once more. It surprised him how few people seemed to live here, but at the same time counted his blessings that no one had witness his very piggish moment. Shrugging it off, Tony rubbed the seeds down into the grass with the heel of his shoe before walking back towards the main road.

Tony got a total of nine paces before his brain remembers something very important he had read when he first became aware of the existence of Thor and by extension, Asgard.

_The golden apples, _he thought. "God fucking damn it," he swore quietly to himself. _Golden_ apples that were supposed to grant the Æsir their 'immortality,' or at least ridiculously long life spans.

Tony's mind quickly began to process everything that he had noticed about the apple he had just eaten. It had been yellow-ish in hue, but golden? And wouldn't they put those under heavier protection? Unless they were abundant and then what was the point? There had been the compulsion on it thought to eat.

He rubbed his hands through his hair in frustration. It wasn't like he could just go up to Thor and say, "Hey, so I think I might have just eaten one of your golden apples. Yes, yes, I know they are not meant for mortals. I didn't mean to, I just couldn't help myself!" That would not go over well.

How did one even tell if they were immortal? Did it feel different, because he didn't fell and different, just really full.

Tony let out a growl of frustration before stalking up the path back towards Steve. This was definitely something he was not going to be sharing. He wasn't going to worry right now about whether or not he had just cursed himself.

Time would unveil that mystery.


End file.
